Like (button)

With a favorite (from English to like for "fallen") bring together users of social networks to express that they like something or something they support (the so-called " Liken ").

In many social networks (either only registered, but sometimes also all) visitors are given the opportunity to “like” other people's posts using certain buttons (on Facebook, for example, the “Like” button). The types of application vary between the possibility of only casting a positive vote (e.g. on Instagram ), giving a positive or negative rating (" Dislike ") (e.g. on YouTube ) or using grading ratings, where z. B. can be chosen between one and five stars.

meaning

In social networks, likes are not only exchanged between friends or stand for “I like that!”, But can also be used to keep up to date with news on a topic. In this case, a like does not represent an evaluation. Likes have an economic meaning, especially for advertising companies and celebrities :

Each like increases the audience to which new posts are distributed (see viral marketing );
Already 70 “likes” are enough to use a computer analysis to create a personality profile that says more about an individual than his group of friends will ever know about him. 150 is enough to gather more information than your own family knows about. This is what a study of more than 86,000 Facebook users claims.

The operators of the networks evaluate the actions and especially the “likes” of their users in order to offer individual advertisements and other like suggestions based on them. These advertising revenues represent a main source of income for the operators.

According to the economic importance of Facebook likes, various agencies offer likes for sale. These agencies commission Facebook users all over the world to click on the "Like" button on a page of the client. These bought likes can violate the terms of use, but are at least often classified as morally questionable.

history

The "Like" button in front of the company headquarters of Facebook Inc. in Menlo Park

The idea for a like button originally came from Facebook . Under the code name “Props”, the “Like” system was developed in 2007; When deciding on an icon , one fluctuated between a star, a plus sign or a raised thumb, while the term “Awesome” was sometimes discussed. In 2009 the button was finally introduced.

Synonyms

The term “like” is not used in all social networks.

network	synonym	English	Icon
Facebook	I like it	Like
Google+	+1	+1
Twitter	Like	Like	[[Template: Smiley / Maintenance / <3]]
Instagram	I like it	Like	[[Template: Smiley / Maintenance / <3]]